As it happened: Australian real wage growth among worst in OECD; Marles to pledge support for Ukraine at NATO summit

Billionaire Andrew Forrest’s company Fortescue is fighting to suppress a 600-page private investigator report, which details its extensive spying on ex-staff and their extended family members, in a court case that alleges stolen intellectual property.

The court heard that Fortescue conducted 19 days of surveillance on three former employees, their wives, children and other family members. The spying included sifting through their personal mail, following some family members and partners to Kmart, trailing a former employee to the airport and also spying on his wife and child at their family home.

Justice Brigitte Markovic is presiding over the case before the Federal Court in which Fortescue has taken legal action against three former employees: Michael Masterman, Bart Kolodziejczyk and Bjorn Winther-Jensen.

It has accused the men of copying and taking the company’s intellectual property when they left to start a rival green iron project called Element Zero.

Read the full story here.

Tasmania’s corruption watchdog warns it doesn’t have the money to investigate all misconduct claims, as the government beefs up its powers following a review into a serial paedophile police officer.

Senior Sergeant Paul Reynolds used his status as a trusted member of the community to groom and abuse up to 52 young boys as far back as 1988, an independent review by former war crimes prosecutor Regina Weiss found. She described it was “the most prolific grooming” she had seen over 20 years.

Reynolds, who worked for a decade after accusations were first raised against him, took his own life in September 2018 while being investigated over the allegations.

The review’s five recommendations have been accepted in full by Tasmania Police Commissioner Donna Adams, with two pending government approval.

The recommendations under consideration are a redress scheme for Reynolds’ victims, and adding coercive examination to the Integrity Commission’s powers so it can investigate all reports of grooming and sexual abuse by police officers.

Today, Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff committed to “appropriately deliver” the review’s recommendations, which Police Minister Felix Ellis said would be implemented as a priority.

But integrity chief commissioner Greg Melick said the organisation’s budget could not sustain the level of investigation or oversight the report recommended.

“We barely have the resources to exercise our existing powers as envisaged and expected by the Tasmanian parliament and the public,” he said in a statement.

AAP

More staff members at News Corp’s Australian titles are being made redundant this week, as management finalises plans to make savings across the company’s mastheads.

Twenty editorial staff would lose their jobs, said people with direct knowledge of the plans, speaking on the condition of anonymity. Ten of the staff would be taking voluntary redundancies.

Titles affected include The Courier-Mail (Brisbane), The Daily Telegraph (Sydney), The Mercury (Hobart), The Advertiser (Adelaide) and News Corp’s free news and lifestyle division, which includes website news.com.au. Managers emailed staff on Tuesday evening to set up meetings about the decision.

Of the 20 layoffs, more will come from The Daily Telegraph than any other paper. No regional staff or journalists from The Australian or the Herald Sun will be made redundant.

The layoffs are part of the media group’s wider effort to save about $65 million.

Read the full story here.

Australia is set to announce a new support package for Ukraine, days after a deadly missile barrage destroyed a children’s hospital in the capital of Kyiv.

Earlier today Assistant Defence Minister Matt Thistlethwaite foreshadowed the new package, which will be announced in coming days, saying Australia would extend its efforts to help Ukraine repel Russia.

“Australia’s been a great contributor, and will continue that contribution for as long as it’s needed,” he told ABC Radio on Wednesday.

This morning, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky asked allies for more air defences at a key NATO conference in Washington.

Defence Minister Richard Marles, who is representing Australia at the conference, said it was important NATO members continued to support Ukraine.

“We see this as a conflict that is likely to endure over a period of time, and we certainly will be standing with Ukraine for as long as it takes,” he told reporters in the US capital.

He also defended American leadership on Ukraine amid concerns over what a potential future Trump presidency could mean for the embattled nation. But Marles would not be drawn on speculation.

“I’m not going to go into commentary about what may or may not happen,” he said.

AAP, with Lachlan Abbott

New Zealand’s central bank has kept the official cash rate on hold but struck a decidedly dovish note in commentary, bringing hope for cuts on the horizon while Australia appears closer to raising rates.

On Wednesday, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) opted to hold the cash rate at 5.5 per cent for the seventh consecutive meeting.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) will have to consider a rate rise at its next meeting in August after the annual rate of inflation jumped to 4 per cent in May.

The RBA was slower to lift rates than its New Zealand counterpart after inflation broke out around the start of 2022.

Australia’s cash rate remains at 4.35 per cent – 120 basis points below New Zealand’s.

RBNZ’s latest hold extends the pain for mortgage-holders, who are suffering under the highest interest rates in 16 years.

It was not a surprise, with all mainstream outlets predicting no change, including ABS Bank’s chief economist Nick Tuffley.

“People need to hang in a little bit longer [for rate cuts],” he told Newstalk ZB.

Inflation remains high in New Zealand.

The all-important consumer price index inflation was last measured at 4 per cent for the March quarter, down from a peak above 7, and just outside the RBNZ’s target band of 1 per cent to 3 per cent.

AAP, with Lachlan Abbott

The Australian sharemarket has lingered in red territory on Wednesday on the back of a mixed Wall Street lead after Fed chair Jerome Powell’s remarks did little to change market expectations for the timing of an interest rate cut.

The ASX 200 was down 26.9 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 7,802.8 at 1pm AEST, with every single sector in the red or trading flat. Miners (down 1 per cent) have weighed on the bourse, and the only green spot was communication services (up 1.2 per cent).

Telstra is among the early gainers, with shares up 1.5 per cent a day after announcing it was raising prices on its mobile phone plans. The telco’s shares added 2.2 per cent on Tuesday.

Megaport is at the top of the bourse with gains of 2.9 per cent, followed by JB Hi-Fi (up 2.7 per cent) and Star Entertainment (up 2.6 per cent). Insignia Financial is at the bottom of the index with losses of 7.4 per cent at lunchtime, paring back some of its gains of 13.6 per cent from yesterday.

Read the full market wrap here.

Donald Trump has challenged Joe Biden to a million-dollar golf match, and even offered the president a generous handicap.

It comes after the two presidential candidates argued about their relative golf skills at the recent presidential debate.

Trump extended the bet during a campaign rally in Florida:

I’m also officially challenging crooked Joe to an 18-hole golf match right here on Doral’s Blue Monster, considered one of the greatest tournament golf courses anywhere in the world, one of the great courses of the world.

It will be among the most-watched sporting events in history. Maybe bigger than the Ryder Cup or even the Masters.

And I will even give Joe Biden 10 strokes a side. Ten strokes, that’s a lot. That means 20 strokes, in case you don’t play golf. And if he wins, I will give the charity of his choice, any charity of his choice, $1 million. And I’ll bet you he doesn’t take the offer.”

A spokesman for Biden, James Singer, attempted to steer the moment back to politics:

We’d challenge Donald Trump to create jobs, but he lost 3 million. We’d challenge Donald Trump to stand up to Putin, but he bent the knee to him. We’d challenge Donald Trump to follow the law, but he breaks it. We’d challenge Donald Trump to not destroy our country, but that’s all his Project 2025 aims to do.

Joe Biden doesn’t have time for Donald Trump’s weird antics – he’s busy leading America and defending the free world. Donald Trump is a liar, a convict and a fraud only out for himself – par for the course.”